DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

[SweetSue]

Thanks Sue! Most of mine are lying flat, maybe all of them now that you said that. Still, they're packed in there. I'll check em in 2 days then again in another 3. I have a few bags that I took on Friday, time to check em,

I did a very small batch when this thread first started and the gf loved it, not sure why it's taken me so long to get back to it. Part of this is that I only trimmed off fans and any leaves that did not have any resin, that is the way they will stay when I jar them and those dry sugar leaves will trim themselves in the jar (thanks Neiko!) this trim session took me just over 4 hours, chop, wash, trim and bag (after 4 hours hanging) for 3 significant plants. I love it and will never go back to wet trimming, hang dry. Don't ask me about cob, I'm not ready yet, some day.....

I feel the same way ween. To finish the day and have the harvest all neatly tucked away, knowing I could walk away for a full two weeks and come back to top shelf buds brings a level of satisfaction unmatched by any other method I've played with.

Cobs are in their own class. Soon ween. When you do your first one you'll kick yourself for waiting so long.

Wow, just kinda perused this thread... I am so happy Hacks turned me on to it, I have a basement that is half root cellar.. My grow area stays at like 78 and 56 with little effort in the summer obviously, but during the winter it is like 45 and dry outside the grow area containment... Certainly perfect at the warmer temps for my outdoor harvest to cure... Additionally the different methods such as paper bags and the like are very valuable tidbits.... Thank you all for great info...

Well hello there big bud fan65. to the thread. The root cellar sounds exciting! Many of us bought little fridges to accomodate this passion. Lol! We do that because we're not lucky enough to have a root cellar. Of course the fridge works year round.

You'll be pleased as punch when you try the first batch. The subtleties one discovers in the terpene profiles are entrancing the first few times through. After a long string of successful harvests done low and slo I started to take it for granted. Lol!

 

[weenmeoff]

A couple questions. I probably should be asked before instead of now, I left a lot of the stems on, is that ok? I figured that would help them slowly dry. I just opened the bags for the 2nd time and buds still seem pretty moist. So now it should be 8 days right? Not 2 weeks from now.

I don't have rice balls and my oven is on the fritz, any other methods of finishing them? Should I just jar and burp?

Thanks!

 

[InTheShed]

All depends on the RH in your neck of the woods. I go with rice balls or my mini dehumidifier because it's rarely even as low as 65% these days. If you're down in the 50s or lower then jar and burp for sure.

 

[SweetSue]

Rice balls require nothing more than rice and a barrier between the rice and the cannabis ween. I've learned that barring severely humid conditions it's not really necessary to get the rice cooked to dryness. I simply keep the rice in a paint strainer bag inside a Rubbermaid container with a good lid. It's been getting the buds down to 62-65% with no trouble now for a few harvests.

Can you dry the rice out in sunlight?

 

[SweetSue]

Oh.... stem inclusion may add a bit of time to the drying, but the rice will overcome that.

 

[InTheShed]

Rice balls require nothing more than rice and a barrier between the rice and the cannabis ween. I've learned that barring severely humid conditions it's not really necessary to get the rice cooked to dryness. I simply keep the rice in a paint strainer bag inside a Rubbermaid container with a good lid. It's been getting the buds down to 62-65% with no trouble now for a few harvests.

Can you dry the rice out in sunlight?

The rice won't get lower than the ambient RH, so that's why I used the oven to get the moisture cooked out.

 

[SweetSue]

The rice won't get lower than the ambient RH, so that's why I used the oven to get the moisture cooked out.

I understood that Shed. Lol!

 

[InTheShed]

I understood that Shed. Lol!

Of course you did! I was just clarifying for those unclear on the rice ball concept .

 

[weenmeoff]

All depends on the RH in your neck of the woods. I go with rice balls or my mini dehumidifier because it's rarely even as low as 65% these days. If you're down in the 50s or lower then jar and burp for sure.

Thanks Shed! It's 78 today and I looked at the next 10 days and the lowest is 50 but looks like a string of sunny days near when it'll be time to jar.

Rice balls require nothing more than rice and a barrier between the rice and the cannabis ween. I've learned that barring severely humid conditions it's not really necessary to get the rice cooked to dryness. I simply keep the rice in a paint strainer bag inside a Rubbermaid container with a good lid. It's been getting the buds down to 62-65% with no trouble now for a few harvests.

Can you dry the rice out in sunlight?

Oh.... stem inclusion may add a bit of time to the drying, but the rice will overcome that.

Thanks Sue! I can dry out out pin the sun. So I'll Sierra it out on a pan. Think a few hours will be good?

Will consider cobbing sooner because I don't want to be kicking myself!

 

[weenmeoff]

I can cook some rice at a friend's. I don't want to screw this up!

Thanks again!

 

[SweetSue]

Thanks Shed! It's 78 today and I looked at the next 10 days and the lowest is 50 but looks like a string of sunny days near when it'll be time to jar.




Thanks Sue! I can dry out out pin the sun. So I'll Sierra it out on a pan. Think a few hours will be good?

Will consider cobbing sooner because I don't want to be kicking myself!

Good resolution ween.

Thanks.....

 

[StoneOtter]

Good resolution ween.

Thanks.....

Whoop Whoop bring em on! We're looking at the same weather rumor.

 

[weenmeoff]

Getting close to,having our fridge back! It's been 11 days since I put the bulk of my crop in the fridge, 13 for 3 bags. I checked one of,the bags and the outside of the bud I felt was dry but still pretty spongy in the middle so figure 3-5 days left...? I need to go to the pet store to get hygrometers and am wondering how many I should get? I think I will have at least 15 maybe 20 jars of produce but don't want to buy that many hygrometers. 5? 10? Or do I need 1 per jar? Thinking if I check 5 or 10 that the others should be very close and I can double check them the next day, sound good?

I took a couple cups of rice and wrapped up in silk I had for straining oil then put on top of my dehuey for 1/2 a day then put in my fridge thinking the rh in there was in the 50-60 range. Think that was a good idea?

Looking forward to getting this crop cured and tested!

 

[Pennywise]

It may help, but humidity will be fairly high if you open the fridge often.

 

[weenmeoff]

Thanks Penny! It's supposed to be very nice here the next couple days sunny and low humidity so I'll throw it outside. Planning on checking the rice balls in a jar with a hygrometer, sound good? How about my plan of buying 5 or 10 instead of 15 or 20.

 

[Pennywise]

I don't run hygrometers in every jar, just a few should give you a good idea of where your cure is at.

 

[weenmeoff]

Awesome thanks again penny!

 

[InTheShed]

Thanks Penny! It's supposed to be very nice here the next couple days sunny and low humidity so I'll throw it outside. Planning on checking the rice balls in a jar with a hygrometer, sound good? How about my plan of buying 5 or 10 instead of 15 or 20.

As long as your bud sizes are consistent from jars with hygrometers to those without. A jar of big buds will probably be damper than a jar of small ones if they all dried at the same rate. If you put a mix in each jar then you should be fine with a few.

 

[weenmeoff]

Thanks Shed! I'll do that! Just got back from the pet store, they only had 3! I wanted to test em out so opened one of e bags that have been on the fridge for 11 days, granted there weren't any really big buds, and they seemed pretty dry. I put some in a jar and it went from 52-62 in about 10 minutes, let's see how it progresses. I also took my rice that has Beene n the fridge wraped in silk for a few days and before that sat on my dehuey for 1/2 day and that one went from 42-36 in 10 minutes. Thinking I may not need to or want to use the rice. What do you think? I'll do 1 more jar with a mix of big buds and smaller buds and see where that lands. How long will it take to get a good reading?

Thanks!

 

[InTheShed]

Thanks Shed! I'll do that! Just got back from the pet store, they only had 3! I wanted to test em out so opened one of e bags that have been on the fridge for 11 days, granted there weren't any really big buds, and they seemed pretty dry. I put some in a jar and it went from 52-62 in about 10 minutes, let's see how it progresses. I also took my rice that has Beene n the fridge wraped in silk for a few days and before that sat on my dehuey for 1/2 day and that one went from 42-36 in 10 minutes. Thinking I may not need to or want to use the rice. What do you think? I'll do 1 more jar with a mix of big buds and smaller buds and see where that lands. How long will it take to get a good reading?
Thanks!

I used the rice balls to get from the mid-70s to the low 60s in short order, like when I'm afraid of mold setting in. These days I use a small dehumidifier in a copy-paper box and leave them in there in the jars for a few hours a night. Given the ambient RH in my area I needed to heat the rice in the oven first and it became a PITA.

In a jar at least 3/4 filled with buds I would think you could get a good reading in about 2 hours, but I'm sure it will change overnight as the moisture redistributes itself across the buds.